Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Decreases Stock Holdings in Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC)

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. decreased its stake in shares of Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) by 10.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,528 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 1,938 shares during the period. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.’s holdings in Genuine Parts were worth $1,927,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caprock Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Genuine Parts in the fourth quarter worth $540,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Genuine Parts by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,698,737 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $198,338,000 after purchasing an additional 182,965 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC increased its position in shares of Genuine Parts by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 104,473 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $12,198,000 after purchasing an additional 9,199 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Genuine Parts by 436.0% in the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 31,451 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,672,000 after purchasing an additional 25,583 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Genuine Parts in the fourth quarter worth approximately $21,840,000. Institutional investors own 78.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on GPC. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $114.00 price objective (down from $133.00) on shares of Genuine Parts in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Genuine Parts from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Genuine Parts from $133.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Northcoast Research lowered shares of Genuine Parts from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Genuine Parts from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $130.86.

Genuine Parts Price Performance

Shares of Genuine Parts stock opened at $116.62 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Genuine Parts has a 12 month low of $104.01 and a 12 month high of $162.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $118.98 and a 200 day moving average of $120.63. The firm has a market cap of $16.19 billion, a PE ratio of 18.02 and a beta of 0.82.

Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $5.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. Genuine Parts had a net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 25.28%. On average, research analysts expect that Genuine Parts will post 7.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Genuine Parts Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. This is a boost from Genuine Parts’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Genuine Parts’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.65%.

About Genuine Parts

Genuine Parts Company distributes automotive replacement parts, and industrial parts and materials. It operates in two segments: Automotive Parts Group and Industrial Parts Group segments. The company distributes automotive replacement parts for hybrid and electric vehicles, trucks, SUVs, buses, motorcycles, recreational vehicles, farm vehicles, small engines, farm equipment, marine equipment, and heavy duty equipment; and equipment and parts used by repair shops, service stations, fleet operators, automobile and truck dealers, leasing companies, bus and truck lines, mass merchandisers, farms, and individuals.